|
About Jesus Steve Sweetman Your Word Is A Lamp Unto My Feet They say that those who are deficient in one of their five senses make up for the deficiency in another. Since I am not able to see cars coming from a distance as I cross streets I have had to learn how to listen for their approach. (Its too bad that bicycles don’t make more noise.) Sometimes I find it difficult crossing a street because of neighborhood noise that blocks the sound of car engines. The noise may come from a lawn-mower, or it may come from wind rushing past my ears. In the summer I often find myself walking home from somewhere on the shady side of the street where it is cool. As I walk I hear that there are no cars coming in either direction. I have a decision to make. Should I cross the street now when it is quiet, or should I stay on the shady side of the street, and hope for a second chance later. Not hearing any cars, and not knowing if I will have another opportunity, I usually cross, leaving the cool shade behind. Just recently I had some help from an outside source crossing a street. It was one of those windy days. I was in a hurry, and I took a chance crossing with the wind rushing by my ears. As I took the first step off the side-walk two words suddenly and without warning echoed through my head. "Don’t walk", the voice said, sounding like an alarm that rang clear as a bell . I immediately stepped back on to the side-walk, and within a two or three seconds a car came speeding by. I attribute these words as being from our Lord. My spiritual hearing worked that day. Shortly after I heard similar words echoing through my head while gong down the stairs to our basement. This time the voice said, "put your shoes on". I didn’t pay attention. Within a minute I stepped on a small piece of glass. My spiritual hearing worked that time as well, but I did not pay attention to it. In Mark 3:13-16 it says, "Jesus went up into the hills, and called to him those he wanted, and they came to him. He appointed the twelve – designating them to be apostles – that they might be with him and that he might send them..." (NIV) I see a Biblical truth in this scripture. Before Jesus sent any of the twelve anywhere, He called them to Himself up into the quiet hillside. There in quietness the disciples spent time with Jesus. Then and only then did Jesus send them forth. The verse says that "he appointed the twelve... to be with Him". It is important for us to know that Jesus calls us first of all to Himself, and second of all to minister to others. We sometimes get that backwards. Getting away in a quiet place with Jesus is key to anything we do in the Kingdom of God. The disciples had to find that quiet place and so do we. Without this time with Jesus I doubt anything we do in His service will amount to much. We need to press into Him while we are there in His presence. Listening to his voice of instruction, correction and guidance will give us what we need in life. Our spiritual ears need to work as well as our physical ears. I don’t always hear the Lord’s voice so clearly as I did when I stepped off the side-walk that day, yet when I press into Jesus, His voice does become clearer to me. I thank Him for those two words as I attempted to cross Pine Street that day, two simple words that made a big difference. I guess I can say what the Psalmist said in Psalm 119:105 "Thy Word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path". (KJV)
|